1. Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to a method and system for organizing a database of friends in a virtual environment, and more specifically to method and system for ranking virtual friends in a virtual environment based at least in part on interactions with the virtual friends.
2. Description of Related Art
In virtual environments such as video games, users typically control a virtual character through a series of adventures within the virtual environment. The virtual characters in some virtual environments may take on a life of their own, each having an affinity for certain virtual items or activities in the virtual world that can optionally reflect the interests and tastes of the user. For example, a virtual character can have a personality trait in the virtual world such as a like or dislike for certain types of virtual foods. Virtual characters can also exhibit a temperament towards other virtual characters based on the value of a parameter representing the health, hunger or happiness of that virtual character. When a user controlling a first virtual character encounters another virtual character in the virtual environment having qualities similar to the first virtual character, the user may wish to add the other virtual character to a character's list of friends. Users may also wish to add other users who they know personally, or the virtual characters of those other users, to join their own virtual character's list of friends. By keeping a list of friends, the user can easily locate and communicate with his or her friends each time the user visits the virtual environment.
To add a user to a list of friends maintained on behalf of a virtual character, a formal invitation can be transmitted to the user being invited (hereinafter the “Invitee”). The Invitee can accept the invitation and the Invitee's virtual character, or the Invitee himself, is added to a list of friends associated with the virtual character of the user, or the user himself, that extended the invitation (hereinafter the “Inviter”). Due to limited computer resources for generating and maintaining the virtual environment, the number of friends each user can include on a list of friends is typically capped at a predetermined number of users.
Over time, however, a user's list of friends can grow quite long and include many users and/or virtual characters. During that time, some users on the list may no longer visit the virtual environment, or their interests may have changed since initially being added to the another user's list of friends. Thus, the limited number of entries on a user's list of friends may include several entries that are not current. That could be replaced by current friends. Users may want to replace friends on the list that they have grown apart from with current friends.
Further, the success and popularity of virtual environments such as those presented as a website accessible over a communication network may be judged based on the number of visitors that website the website receives. Interest in a new virtual environment can keep a user attracted to a virtual environment for an initial period of time. Encouraging users to visit the virtual environment over time once the initial interest has worn off can be difficult.